Heat Exchanger Component With Embedded Fiber Optic Sensing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Monitoring temperatures and conditions inside high-temperature, high-pressure environments, such as gas turbine engines, is challenging due to the expense and poor reliability of specialized sensors and their structural supports.
Innovation Solution
Additively manufactured components with embedded fiber optic sensors and thermal barrier coatings, integrated using techniques like direct metal laser sintering, which form trenches to create a fiber channel for the sensors, allowing for internal health monitoring without additional structural components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If specialized temperature sensors and structural supports are used to monitor conditions inside gas turbine engines, then temperature monitoring capability is improved, but cost and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the sensor embedding function with the existing structural walls of the heat exchanger. The trenches are formed directly within the structural walls during additive manufacturing, eliminating the need for separate structural supports. This merging of sensor embedding and structural functions reduces device complexity while maintaining temperature monitoring capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The structural walls of the heat exchanger are designed to serve multiple functions: providing structural support and simultaneously embedding temperature sensors through integrated trenches. This multi-functionality allows the same component to fulfill both mechanical and sensing roles, reducing the need for additional specialized structures.
2Measurement precision
If specialized temperature sensors and structural supports are used to monitor conditions inside gas turbine engines, then temperature monitoring capability is improved, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the sensor embedding function with the existing structural walls of the heat exchanger. The trenches are formed directly within the structural walls during additive manufacturing, eliminating the need for separate structural supports. This merging of sensor embedding and structural functions reduces device complexity while maintaining temperature monitoring capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The trenches for sensor embedding are created during the additive manufacturing process itself, before the component is assembled and installed. This preliminary action integrates sensor placement into the manufacturing workflow, eliminating the need for post-manufacturing modifications or separate installation steps, thereby reducing overall cost.
3Measurement precision
If specialized sensors are used in high temperature environments, then temperature monitoring capability is improved, but reliability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a thermal barrier coating as an intermediary layer between the sensor and the high-temperature environment. This coating protects the sensor from direct exposure to extreme temperatures while still allowing it to accurately measure the temperature of the surrounding medium, thereby improving sensor reliability without sacrificing measurement capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The thermal barrier coating is applied to the sensor before it is exposed to the high-temperature environment. This beforehand protection cushions the sensor against thermal shock and extreme conditions, preventing damage and improving reliability before the sensor encounters harsh operating conditions.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables reliable and cost-effective monitoring of temperatures and structural integrity within high-temperature environments, reducing the need for additional supports and improving sensor reliability.
Implementation Method 1
a first sensor part embedded in the fiber channel and comprising an exterior surface and a thermal barrier coating (TBC) disposed thereon to protect the exterior surface during additive manufacturing processes
Implementation Method 2
The additively manufactured first and second parts are additively manufactured together with the first and second trenches corresponding in position such that the additively manufactured first and second parts form an assembled part with a fiber channel cooperatively defined by the first and second trenches
Data Source
AI summary
An additively manufactured component is provided. The additively manufactured component includes an additively manufactured first part defining a first trench, an additively manufactured second part defining a second trench and a fiber optic sensor. The additively manufactured first and second parts are additively manufactured together with the first and second trenches corresponding in position such that the additively manufactured first and second parts form an assembled part with a fiber channel cooperatively defined by the first and second trenches. The fiber optic sensor includes a first sensor part embedded in the fiber channel and a second sensor part operably coupled to the first sensor part and extendible at an exterior of the assembled part.